The journal Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism has just published our article titled “Length of residence: Does it make a difference in older bilinguals?” as an Online-first article. http://doi.org/10.1075/lab.15001.hig
In this article we explore three factors that may affect second-language (L2) attainment: the length of time spent living in a country where the L2 is spoken, the age at which the L2 was first learned, and the age at which the person’s L2 skills are tested. The first two factors have often been studied in second language acquisition research, but the third variable (age at testing) is usually ignored. In this article we argue that there are important reasons to consider age a potentially important/influential factor given the research showing cognitive and language declines in older adults. We reviewed a set of studies that included length of residence as a potential factor in accounting for individual differences in L2 attainment. We divided the studies into those that included bilinguals who were all under the age of 55 and those that included some bilinguals over 55. Although there were only a small number of studies that included older adults, the findings suggest that when older adults are included in the sample, there is less chance that a positive effect of LOR on L2 attainment is found (in other words, longer LOR is not associated with better L2 performance). By contrast, studies that included only younger adults reported a positive effect of LOR more often than no effect of LOR. We suggest that detrimental effects of aging on language and cognition may be counteracting the positive effects of length of residence and that aging should not be overlooked as a potentially influential variable in studies of second language acquisition.
A pre-print version of the article can be found on my Research Gate profile here.
Eve Higby 